Connecticut midfielder Brooke Jensen had possession. The Huskies were down by seven when Jensen passed to a teammate. The ball never reached its destination, though, because SU freshman defender Sarah Cooper reached her stick back and intercepted the ball.

Ball firmly in her stick, she took off. Breaking away from everyone else, Cooper ran up the field and passed to Morgan Alexander, who was standing next to the net. Alexander tossed the ball to Sam Swart who was running toward the goal. She scored and SU’s lead increased to eight.

While the offense dominated in No. 13 Syracuse’s (1-0) 18-6 win over Connecticut (0-1), its defense helped propel the eight-goal run to start the first half and held the Huskies to one point. With seven caused turnovers before heading into the locker room, Syracuse kept UConn’s offensive possessions short to start the game. Yet, the pressure didn’t last through the second half and SU gave up five goals in the final 30 minutes.

“The defense we play is super high pressure,” Cooper said, “so just like getting out on our hands, forcing them to make a bad pass, that was really working for us.”

Last season, SU was 96th in caused turnovers per game, averaging 7.27, and 82nd in groundballs per game, averaging 16.84. In this season’s opener, SU had nine turnovers and 19 groundballs.

In the first eight minutes of the game, Syracuse averaged a goal a minute. Half of those possessions came off the draw control. The other half of SU’s first eight goals were, in part, set up by the defense. Starting with the first goal of the game. UConn’s Sydney Watson won the opening draw and brought the ball down to UConn’s end of the field. Natalie Wallon quickly caused a turnover and Syracuse cleared. Wallon ended that possession with a score off an assist by Mary Rahal and started the 8-0 run.

Two more turnovers caused by the defense, including one caused by Cooper, and a save by goalie Asa Goldstock matched SU’s first-half offensive performance.

The second half went differently than the first. In the first half, SU had seven caused turnovers. In the second they had just two. In the first half, there were 12 groundballs picked up. In the second half, there were seven. Of UConn’s five shots in the first frame, three were on goal, one of which went in. All eight of the Huskies second-half shots were on goal and turned into five scores.

“I think we were all getting tired and also we had different personnel in,” Cooper said.

SU head coach Gary Gait said they gave everyone a chance to play. With 11 minutes left in the game, Bri Stahrr came in to replace Goldstock and had two saves and let in two goals. The four defenders that didn’t start each had time in the game, combining for one caused turnover and five fouls. The pressure and aggression SU’s defense demonstrated early in the game were part of the reason SU pick up 20 fouls, Gait said. 12 of the fouls came in the first half.

With the constant subbing, the defense lost momentum in the second half. But it didn’t change the final score. Syracuse cruised and won by 12.

Published on February 8, 2019 at 6:46 pm

Contact Kaci: klwasile@syr.edu